H1N1 – Questions About Profit Incentive

Swine flu has killed 12 799 people worldwide since it first emerged in Mexico in March 2009, the World Health Organisation said on the 8th January 2010.

The latest data posted by the United Nations health agency marked an increase of 579 deaths from the previous update published nine days ago.

The Americas continues to report the biggest number of casualties with at least 6,880 deaths while in Europe, at least 2,554 people have died from the A(H1N1) virus

Is it a False Pandemic Though?

The Council of Europe member states will launch an inquiry in January 2010 on the influence of the pharmaceutical companies on the global swine flu campaign, focusing especially on extent of the pharma‘s industry’s influence on WHO. The parliament motion was introduced by Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg, former SPD Member of the German Bundestag and now chairman of the Health Committee of PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe). Wodarg is a medical doctor and epidemiologist, a specialist in lung disease and environmental medicine, who considers the current “pandemic” Swine Flu campaign of the WHO to be “one of the greatest medicine scandals of the Century.

The resolution states:

In order to promote their patented drugs and vaccines against flu, pharmaceutical companies influenced scientists and official agencies, responsible for public health standards to alarm governments worldwide and make them squander tight health resources for inefficient vaccine strategies and needlessly expose millions of healthy people to the risk of an unknown amount of side-effects of insufficiently tested vaccines. The “bird-flu”-campaign (2005/06) combined with the “swine-flu”-campaign seem to have caused a great deal of damage not only to some vaccinated patients and to public health-budgets, but to the credibility and accountability of important international health-agencies.

Dr Wodarg’s claims come as it emerged the British government is desperately trying to offload up to 1 Billion pounds worth of swine flu vaccine, ordered at the height of the scare as reported in the Times.

The Department of Health warned of 65 000 deaths, set up a special advice line and website, suspended normal rules so anti-flu drugs could be given out without prescription and told health and local authorities to prepare for a major pandemic.

Planners were told to get morgues ready for the sheer scale of deaths and there were warnings that the Army could be called in to prevent riots as people fought to obtain drugs.

A total of 360 people have now died after contracting the disease in the UK, comprising 251 in England, 28 in Wales, 64 in Scotland and 17 in Northern Ireland. This represents a sharp increase from the figure of 298 deaths announced on December 17. However, Dr Wodarg has branded the H1N1 outbreak as “one of the greatest medical scandals of the century”.

Dr Wodarg said:

In order to promote their patented drugs and vaccines against flu, pharmaceutical companies have influenced scientists and official agencies, responsible for public health standards, to alarm governments worldwide.

They have made them squander tight healthcare resources for inefficient vaccine strategies and needlessly exposed millions of healthy people to the risk of unknown side-effects of insufficiently tested vaccines.

The pharmaceutical companies have stated that there has been no conflicts of interest and that they have responded to the WHO declaration in a manner that would have helped to contain the pandemic had it been more virulent, and may still be required to meet later waves of infection.

Comment

The use of natural methods of improving innate immune responses has remained a safe and reasonable risk to benefit approach to reducing risk of viral infection, as despite the reduced numbers against worst case predictions the effects of H1N1 novel influenza, or indeed seasonal influenza are best avoided if possible.